


like lightning

by watchmyback



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-03 08:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1737446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchmyback/pseuds/watchmyback
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He thought of what was.  She bore into what would be.  And the rain kept falling...she had always liked the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Friday, 10:12 PM

**Author's Note:**

> Where the POV switches, regular text denotes Sakura's story & Sasuke's story is in italics.

Her tongue slid along the grindstone once more.  Cutting, biting, sharp thoughts bubbled on her pale lips.  She yanked her lower lip inward to stop them from spilling out as she tried to keep her focus.

_His tongue skimmed sandpaper.  And instead of curbing his words in, he cast them lazily through the rolling waves of heat.  His target would be easily crushed, in more ways than one._

She ran her fingers through her pink locks, and shot her heap of work a disgusted glance.  Quite like herself, the pile looked close to teetering over the edge.  But casting her friend a much aggrieved look bought her no pity; how could she not see it?  How hard she was driving herself here?  She was trying to be good; there was no way she’d have time for a silly party.

_He ran his fingers through his victim’s long red hair.  He was never good, not if he could help it.  He’d accepted the way things were long ago, learnt the ropes, and became an expert climber.  No one outdid him, and whoever said that the top was lonely was out of their mind.  He felt a pleasant little thrill as his prey pressed up against him._

“I’m not sure, Pig,” she eventually stated with minimal traces of bitterness.  “I’d love to go, but you’ll be with Kiba, and you know I hate parties.”  More like she hated the socialites who’d fill the bar, and how out of place they’d make her feel.  Even the presence of her friends couldn’t help that.  Her stomach turned to ice with the thought.  Her green eyes bore into the keyboard, sure not to meet her friend’s deflated state.

_The target was all too easily impressed with his show.  She let out a soft, wicked cackle as he moved closer.  It was the same tempo he’d been dancing to for weeks, maybe months now.  It felt more like years.  The bass pounded through the room in time to the lights, more dazzling than any thunderstorm.  The thought made him smirk.  He carried through the rest of the song with ease, as he felt her giggles dissolve into shivers at his touch._

“Sakura.”  She lifted her eyes from the keyboard, ready for the storm to roll in.  “Don’t you ever wonder if you’ll regret all this?” her friend pleaded, gesturing to the endless files beside her.  “You’re gonna wake up one day and realize you’ve spent all your time on books and essays and research, Forehead.  Does that not scare you a little?”

" _Sasuke.”  The redhead’s hands were wandering through the dark.  He smiled the same smile as before; perfectly white, and yet it did not light up the shady room at all.  The edges of her tight skirt barely clawed onto concealing anything.  He still felt her taste, mostly of alcohol, on his tongue.  Then again, he supposed he might have contributed to the flavor._

“I told you, I’m not looking for that kind of fun,” she retorted cheekily, trying to ease her friend away with humor.  Ino still wasn’t pleased, her bright eyes scanning her friend carefully.  “Look, I want to do something worth doing for me.  This party’s worthing doing for you; you love Kiba and you should be with him.  Go and have fun, Ino-pig.  But I’m staying here; I can’t save lives without a degree.”

" _Let’s go,” he whispered into her ear, and already she was dragging him towards the alley.  Her back was to him, and for a split second he watched as the bright lights encircled her in a sort of halo.  She was pretty, but no prettier than any other he’d been with.  She was clearly the kind of girl who’d been told of her beauty from an early age, the prom queen, a perfect princess.  He pulled her close to meet her lips once more._

"At least tell me you’ll come with me to that gala tomorrow night.”  Ino had given up on the bar, turning her eye towards the future.  “Kiba says all the new acts are coming…” And as much as Sakura hated it, she knew she owed it to Ino to attend.  She’d been dying to drag her along to one of the Inuzukas’ big parties ever since she’d started to date Kiba.  Sakura had known Ino long enough to know that she wouldn’t budge on this one.

_The crowd crashed down upon them like a wave, but she was relentless.  As she nimbly dodged blows from either side, Sasuke kept stepping on toes.  Shouts echoed in his ears, from eyes too drunk to take in his face.  They would not have yelled if they knew it was Sasuke Uchiha stubbing their toes.  And then they were out, the pale trimmings of morning light twinkling the night sky.  He breathed out angrily.  Rain._

“Maybe.”  Just one word, and Ino was in hysterics.  What would she wear, who would they see.  Sakura just nodded back blankly.  It would most decidedly not be fun, but then things like these never were.  The fun was in getting ready, the anticipation, the feeling that anything could be accomplished with the rightly fitted dress.  She turned the conversation back to that small space of possibility, and she didn’t feel nearly as empty.

_The redhead was too far gone to notice the way the downpour stopped him in his tracks._

Ino was too caught up in daydreams to see her eyes slide out of focus.

***     *     ***

Slowly but surely, things continued on as they always had.  He took the girl back to his apartment.  She drafted her paper in record time and Ino went out with Kiba.  He thought of what was.  She bore into what would be.

And the rain kept falling.  She had always liked the rain.


	2. Saturday, 9:47 AM

He had never liked mornings.  By the time that he had finally pushed sleep out of his eyes, the girl from last night was gone.  Had he kicked her out?  He couldn’t recall.  Her absence wasn’t a surprise, simply an inevitability.  Almost everybody left, so sometimes he helped them on their way.

His bad mood, then, was certainly not due to her departure.  Mornings just made him angry; nights were always better.  The way the rain tapped softly on his window only agitated him further.  Having never been an easy riser, he tumbled back onto the sheets once he’d checked the apartment to make certain she was gone.  At this point, even the five minute search was tiring; he was already exhausted once more.  The bed had never seemed more welcoming, the pillows never cooler.  He curled up, but just as he settled down the sight of his cell phone made him sick with anxiety.  Reality, time, and commitments were all swirling through his foggy mind.

He reached across the pillow and turned the phone off.

*     *     *

The paper completed and Ino still asleep, she lazily watched raindrops race down the windowpane.  Ino must have gotten home near four, and still she would get more sleep than her.  It was an inevitability.  A particularly speedy drop shot down the glass, and she exhaled slowly.  “…you’ve spent all your time on books and essays and research.  Does that not scare you a little?”

Of course not; it terrified her, a lot.  Still, messing around when she was so close to success wouldn’t fix anything, would it?  A tiny raindrop collided with another, and their combined weight made them slip to the bottom.

The whole thing might be more bearable if only she knew what she wanted.  She wanted a future, and she’d spent her whole life planning for the future.  Yet she wasn’t always sure just what she’d like it to contain.

*     *     *

“Get that away, Pig!”

_“Get out, dobe.”_

"Sakura, you can’t seriously tell me you’re going to let that dry naturally.”

" _Sasuke-teme, you’re coming to the party tonight.”_

“I hate blowdryers.  Drying it naturally won't take too long.”

" _I don’t see why I should.  I’ve made plans for here all day.”_

She stealthily dodged a straightener.

_He threw a pillow across the master suite._

Ino eventually gave into the struggle, sighing at her friend’s freakish pink locks.  It was useless to argue with her; she fought relentlessly, endlessly skittering across counter points and wild reasoning.  Sakura used to love how a curler could transform her into a shampoo model, her hair falling into false barrel curls.  She now settled for three measly bobby pins in her bob.

 _Naruto struck back with ease.  He knew his friend would come to the party, it was merely a matter of intensive persuasion.  Or, as Sasuke liked to call it, “annoying the shit out of him.”  Besides, the blonde knew his asshole of a best friend needed to see the light of day.  He was doing him a favor, he reasoned, as he casually pushed Sasuke out of his enormous bed._  

*     *     *

At the dawn of the evening’s festivities, Sakura was already giving her textbooks longing glances as Ino primped to her heart’s content.  Tsunade-sama wouldn’t outright say she was displeased if her work was sub-par, but Sakura would know.  Her tiny mouth would shrink and she’d raise her brow very slightly, just enough to crush her.  And who knew how long it would take to get the work done right?

“Stop eyefucking your homework and zip me up, Forehead,” Ino sighed dramatically, moving so her blonde pony swayed perfectly behind her.  Ino donned a tight, dark purple number; well-fitted around her shoulders but with a plunging neckline.  She practically glowed with nervous satisfaction as she gazed into the mirror.

“Damn Pig, are you trying to give poor Kiba a heart attack?” Sakura gently teased as she rested her chin on her best friend’s shoulder, meeting Ino’s bright blue eyes in the mirror.  Ino waved her hand dismissively, but Sakura saw the corners of her mouth turn up.  In a flurry of movement, Ino turned around to face her friend.  

“What about you, loser?  No boys in Kohona catching your eye?”  

Sakura huffed, rolling her eyes and immediately turning away.  “I’ve told you a million times, Ino, no.  And-” She forcefully began, successfully cutting off Ino’s upcoming retort, “I am not interested in dating Lee.  Or Shikamaru.  Or-”

“Sai?”

Ino was met with quite possibly the most uncomfortable incredulous stare of her life.  

“...yeah, you’re right.”

*     *     *

As expected, Naruto arrived at Sasuke’s apartment twenty minutes before the party’s start.  And, as expected, Sasuke did not answer the door when the visitor knocked eighteen times in three seconds.  He was seriously considering to tell the man in the lobby to ban Naruto from the residence when there was a sudden crash in his small living room.  

He sighed.  He’d left the window open.  If Naruto had taken the fire escape, there was really no use fighting it; Sasuke was going to the damn party after all.  

As if he hadn’t previously broken and entered Sasuke’s apartment, Naruto strolled into his kitchen, not sparing him a single glance until…

“Awh, c’mon teme, where the hell’s my ramen?”

Sasuke said nothing, staring blankly into the abyss of orange that was his best friend.  Sasuke acknowledged that he probably did not deserve a friend like Naruto in his life; it was simultaneously a burden and (though he’d never admit it aloud) a privilege.  There was no use mentioning the party, no use trying to fight against the endless tide of “dattebayo”s.  They both knew how it would end, and therefore chose to skip it all together.  

Naruto ate most of the food in Sasuke’s fridge in an impressive five minutes as payback for making him “take the stairs.”  This feast spawned more idle argument over who the better cook was, closely followed by differing ideas on the best pizza joint in town.

Midway through his passionate argument in favor of Akimichi’s, Naruto paused, said, “go put real clothes on, asshole” and then continued as if there was no interruption.

Grimly, Sasuke went in search of a button down shirt as Naruto’s shouts echoed throughout the apartment.  

It was going to be a long night.


	3. Saturday, 8:46 PM

It was raining again the night of the party; Sasuke Uchiha brushed into Sakura Haruno in his hurry to get inside.  She was staring up at the dark clouds, and did not glance towards him.  He did not look back.  

Naruto and Ino were both already out of sight, and so Sasuke and Sakura separately watched the party unfold.  He was fuming that he’d had to attend in the first place and she was tired of the festivities already.  

*     *     *

An hour later, she was even more tired when a clearly sloshed blond boy spilt his drink on her shoes.  

"OH...oh no.  Whew...I'm an IDIOT.  HE can tell you that-" and the boy spun around for someone who wasn't there.  He visibly deflated, looking very much like a lost puppy.  So pathetic was his expression that not even Sakura, with her infamous temper still bristling from the party's atmosphere, could stay too mad.  Especially not when his huge blue eyes looked ready to fill up with tears.

"Oh.  I RUINED A PRETTY LADY'S SHOES...I’m sorry pink lady."

Sakura would have been embarrassed if she cared; therefore the boy was very lucky.  But Sakura felt a little lucky to have found him as well; she felt a giggle escape her lips for the first time all evening.  She half-heartedly shushed him as he dropped to the ground and sloppily tried to wipe off her red heels with his jacket.  

"Really, it's fine, they're not my favorite pair," she assured him in the midst of what she hoped would come off as kind laughter.  

The boy suddenly hopped to his feet at that, swaying on the spot from the too-sudden movement.  

"You are so NICE, pink lady!  So nice...”  And the boy took a long, emotional pause, apparently moved by her kindness, before beginning to blabber incoherently.  “I WAS getting food.  Ramen?  Eh, I dunno...where’s that asshole?  TEME?!"  He seemed highly distraught as he swayed on the spot in front of Sakura.  “He LEFT me.  Left AGAIN.”

Emotional drunks, Sakura decided, were really only fun when they weren't yours to deal with.  She had years of girls' nights with Ino to make her wary, but as the boy switched topics again, she couldn't help smiling back at the dopey grin before her.  

*     *     *

He was at that point in the evening where he was beginning to shoot death glares at anyone who breathed in a five foot radius.  Sure, that was a lot of glaring, but if anyone was built for excessive glaring, it was Sasuke Uchiha.  

He was disengaged, boredly lounging on the couch tucked away in the corner.  He began to mindlessly tap out an old tune on the couch’s arm while scanning (glaring at) the scene.

The Inuzuka’s house was decent, and not very far off campus.  Mostly it was just large, with vast incredibly hallways and enormous rooms.  Sasuke assumed this was to ease traffic, as there never seemed to be a shortage of people running through the halls.  The absurd addition of an insane amount of dogs tracking through as well definitely didn’t help the issue.   

Currently, Kiba and his girlfriend were shooting each other downright sickening looks, Kiba’s arm draped carelessly around her pale shoulders.  The Inuzuka was nice enough, but in all honesty he was slightly too reminiscent of Naruto for Sasuke’s taste.  According to Sasuke, one Naruto in a person’s life was perhaps one Naruto too many.  

A frustrated looking girl with her hair in buns was whispering in the ear of a tall, skinny boy.  She fidgeted a lot, uncomfortably adjusting her dress.  A boy with long blond hair was snickering as he intently folded his napkin into a paper crane, ignoring the group around him.  Two dark haired men were crying so intently that Sasuke physically jerked away, even though the width of the room separated them.  

Emotional drunks, Sasuke decided, were the absolute worst, especially when they were yours to deal with.  He had spent too many nights babysitting Naruto to feel otherwise.  

*     *     *

Sakura Haruno felt responsibility and worry press down upon her frame as she looked into the eyes of a boy who wasn’t her best friend.  It would be more than easy to send him on his way, but she simply couldn’t.  He had a dazed, lost look in his expression that, lately, she had felt upon her own face far too often.

She felt Shikamaru’s bored voice ringing in her ears, telling her she was “such a mom.”  Sakura decided not take that as too much of an insult.  She just happened to care (quite a lot) about most everyone.  Not a problem, she assured herself, letting out a calming breath.

Anyways, as far as moms go, Shikamaru’s was pretty badass.  

The blond boy still looked lost.  Actually, he appeared cartoonishly confused, whipping his head around in absurdly grand gestures.  Sakura might have laughed if it wasn’t so sad.  He hadn’t moved from the spot of their collision, and so he was still a few inches away from her.  This being said, she began to fear that he might accidentally smack her again in his dramatic flailing.  After all, the alcohol had already proven his lack of coordination.

So, partially fearing for her own well being, partially out of concern for the boy’s sanity, Sakura finally spoke.

“Woah there blondie.  Do you need any help?”

*     *     *

The Uzumakis simply wouldn’t let Sasuke rest.  It wasn’t enough that Naruto had forced him to come to the damn party, but Karin had arrived, effectively driving Sasuke away from his spot on the couch.  

Sasuke could tolerate Karin most of the time.  But whenever Karin decided that her on again off again relationship was off, she tended to latch on to Sasuke’s side.  There were several problems with this.  One, Sasuke was never one for pda (two, especially not with Karin).  Three, her perfume made it sort of impossible to breathe.  

And, if his conversation with Suigetsu earlier this week was anything to go by, the relationship was definitely off.  

Naturally, the easiest thing to do was avoid Karin like the plague.

He’d miss whichever band was supposed to be playing at the party, but it wasn’t as if he’d been particularly keen on watching them anyways.  In fact, there was little to nothing about this party that interested him.  As had been the case when Naruto invited him and he declined the invitation.

Sasuke briefly reflected that he spent about sixty percent of his day vaguely furious.  He felt it was mostly justified.


	4. Saturday, 10:09 PM

Somewhere between his fifth pun (which caused him to shake with wild laughter at his own wit) and his unabashed sincerity as he thanked her, Sakura Haruno decided that Naruto Uzumaki was an alright guy.  Even if he did spill his drink all over her red pumps.  

He’d dragged her on to the deck earlier, barely able to hear her voice above the party.  After introducing himself, he seemed to decide it was best to stay in one spot (to which Sakura breathed a short sigh of relief).  However, now able to properly hear her question, Naruto had assured her that he was absolutely fine.

“The bastard will be desperate to leave soon anyhow, but I plan on making him find me.  It’ll take much longer that way.”  He shot her a cheeky grin, clearly pleased with his plan.   Still chuckling to himself, he plopped down on the wooden porch swing a few feet away.   She'd felt a little awkward after that; she almost wished she'd indulged in some alcohol herself, to either ease her way into or out of Naruto's presence.  

Naruto, however, seemed completely oblivious to this awkwardness.  Clearly not picking up on the way Sakura's eyes darted about the mostly empty deck, he sunnily beamed at her from his swing.  When she made no move to the door, he patted the seat next to him expectantly.

He began talking.  At first it seemed to be about absolutely nothing, but the longer he rambled, the more sense he seemed to make.  Sakura recognized maybe one or two names as fellow classmates at the University as Naruto rambled warmly about his friends.  

Naruto certainly talked enough for the both of them; but Sakura surprised herself by talking back.  She found herself prodding him on, asking questions and interjecting anecdotes about her own life.  Naruto was a surprisingly intent listener.  

Ino would complain about her missing the “real” party, but Sakura had fun.  Sure, sometimes the stories got a tad jumbled; after all, Naruto was fairly drunk.  To "compensate" for this disparity, Sakura grabbed a couple of shots for herself.  

She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd done something like this; just skipped out on her homework in favor of alcohol and laughter.  She hadn't really seen the need to.  But next to Naruto's goofy smile, Sakura couldn't help but wonder if she'd missed out on others who would have ruined her shoes and made her laugh.  It was a strange feeling, almost like nostalgia for a life she didn't have.  

Then Naruto bumped her shoulder and launched into another story, and she allowed herself to smile.  

All in all, the night hadn't been a complete waste.  

*     *     *

Sasuke Uchiha was about to do something that he very rarely did.  

He was going to look for Naruto Uzumaki.

It was an unspoken rule between the two of them: if (when) Naruto grew bored, he would seek out his friend.  In turn, Sasuke mostly put up with Naruto's deafening presence whenever he popped up on his doorstep.  Sasuke rarely, if ever, chose to seek out Naruto's presence.  

It was a matter of pride, really.  Also, Naruto could be such an irritating little shit if you let him know you liked having him around too much.  And Sasuke liked not having a permanent headache.  

But still: matter of pride.  

That was why, when Sasuke found his drunken best friend flirting with some pink haired chick, he was a little...irritable.  Of course, he had counted on Naruto's current state rendering it hard for him to remember that he, Sasuke Uchiha, had to come looking for him.  But now there was a witness.  

Sasuke acknowledged that she was pretty, but then again, he had met many pretty girls. As such, he found her beauty as rather unremarkable, almost standard.  Her strange bubblegum pink hair was the only thing that would set her apart in a crowd.  Her nose was too small, especially in comparison with her rather large eyes.  

He could hear her giggling into her hands as he stealthily approached, the roar of the surrounded party dulling behind him as he moved towards the quieter deck.  

As she turned, noticing his presence for the first time, he found a familiar reaction.  Her cheeks slightly pinkened, and the effect was heightened by her unusual hair.  Milliseconds after making eye contact, she instantly turned back to Naruto, choosing to ignore his presence.  Naruto’s attention on the girl was unwavering; Sasuke could practically see the clumsy hearts forming in Naruto’s eyes as he stared at the girl’s pale lips.  He stood there a moment longer.  The girl’s movements appeared stiff, and she kept attempting to subtly glance his way.  Of course, this was completely ruined by the fact that Sasuke was openly and unabashedly watching the pair of them.

He had already walked across the fucking party, did he really have to announce himself to his dimwitted friend?  Sasuke felt strangely anxious, but less strangely, he was angry.  More than anything, he just wanted to leave.  He’d strongly considered just abandoning Naruto (after all, the dobe had forced him to come in the first place) but he knew he’d never hear the end of it if he did.  

He was only about a foot away now, and still staring.  He must have looked furious.  He didn’t care.  But someone else did.

In a sudden blur of pink, he found himself inches away from a impressively irritable woman.  Her hands were balled up into fists on her hips, and her eyes sparked as she leaned too far into his personal space.

“What the hell is your problem pal?  I’m sure I’ve never seen you before so what could you possibly have to glare abo-”

“SASUKE-TEME!”

*     *     *

What exactly was the polite thing to do when someone makes sure your idiotic drunken best friend doesn’t fall off a deck?  Sasuke had never cared much for pleasantries, but the silence he usually craved was getting awkward.  

Naruto promised Sasuke they’d head out, but only after they’d thanked Kiba.  And, clinging on to whatever pride he had left, Sasuke hadn’t accompanied him on the trip back inside.  

Which left him on a empty porch, with…

“Thank you,” Sakura suddenly interjected.  She was staring up at the stars, but Sasuke was the only other person on the deck.  There was no mistaking that she was speaking to him.  Unwilling to speak, he fixed her with a questioning glance.  She reluctantly turned to face him as she felt his stare.

“For ditching Naruto,” she explained with a half smile, looking away just as quickly as she met his gaze.  “He certainly made the party more interesting.”

Sasuke grunted in response, his irritation inexplicably doubling.  The idiot was much less “interesting” upon closer inspection.

“Also, sorry I sort of yelled earlier.  I now see that glaring is your default setting.”

Sasuke whipped his apparently default glare towards her, causing her to burst out into giggles.  A slight, reluctant flush spread over his cheeks at that (loathe as Sasuke was to admit it).  She buried her mouth into her hands to muffle the sound.  Her green gaze steadily met his, a quiet challenge.  Yet there was no mirth in her laughter, only warmth.

Nonetheless, it was still annoying.  

Naruto came barreling out of the house, gleefully punching a tense Sasuke in the shoulder.  

“Okay, okay, I gotcha.  We’re going, you bastard.  I’ll see you round, huh Sakura?”  Sasuke was almost embarrassed for his friend upon hearing his all too hopeful tone, but Sakura simply beamed up at him.

“You bet, Naruto.”  Naruto glowed.  Sasuke felt his own personal storm cloud weaken at the proximity of so much ridiculous glee.  Still, as Naruto bounded down the steps, something halted Sasuke’s movements.  As he turned back to face Sakura once more, she looked up at him, waiting for some sort of response.  Not for the first time, no words came to his lips.  A silence hung between them; it was not exactly unpleasant, but expectant.  

“YOU COMIN’ TEME?”  Sasuke rolled his eyes, his glare snapping back into place as the previous moment crumbled before him.  

And he slowly descended the wooden steps, leaving Sakura frozen on the porch bench.


End file.
